Attempting to rebrand, the National Research Council tests new logos, slogans

OTTAWA — As the National Research Council shifts its focus from “basic” science to boosting innovation in Canadian business – handing out more than 100 layoff notices to Canada’s top scientists and researchers along the way – a new report shows that the council is attempting to refresh its image, testing new slogans and logos on Canadian focus groups.

The NRC spent $30,000to test slogans such as “Your Innovation Fuelled by Research,” and “A New Economy Based on Innovation” on a set of focus groups in Toronto and Montreal in early June, according to a report compiled for the council.

But it’s not the spending and use of focus groups that bothers opposition critics – it’s that the NRC should be more concerned with what’s happening inside the organization than what it looks like from the outside, they say.

“This shows that that they’re preoccupied with the surface, with the appearance of the NRC, when they’re really not at all concerned about the guts of the operation. And that’s really worrying to me,” said Kennedy Stewart, the NDP’s science and technology critic.

Using focus groups to test out new logos and slogans is what any large organization would do if they were changing as much as the NRC is changing, said Ted Hsu, the Liberal party’s science and technology critic.

“It would be more worth it to have an independent panel come in a couple of years and ask ‘was it worth it?’ ” Hsu said.

The 2012 federal budget allocated $67 million to the National Research Council to refocus on “business-led, industry-relevant research.”

“We are working to make the NRC a world-class organization that is more effective in generating new jobs and growth for Canada through science, technology and innovation,” Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear said last March.

But since then, there have been two rounds of cuts at the NRC, according to the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada.

Last October 94 employees across the country received notification letters that their services “may no longer be required,” the union said at the time. Another 30 notices had already gone out to National Research Council employees earlier in the year, the union added.

The NRC’s refocus could drive away those scientists who remain and deter international scientists from coming to Canada, Stewart said Thursday.

The “greater utility” of the exercise with the focus groups, according to the new report, was that it identified some “larger communication issues” for the NRC as it attempts to reposition itself into a new role.

“Prospective clients are not so clear on what NRC is, or does,” the report said.

As far as its image, while some of the new logos and slogans tested last summer were more favourable than others, none tested very strongly.

One logo was criticized for looking too similar to the CBC/Radio Canada logo. Another, for looking like an old screensaver – “particularly those of an older PC era.” Even the strongest slogan —Your Innovation Fuelled by Research — “does relatively little to clarify NRC or crystalize its identity,” the report said.

The NRC – which will turn 100 in 2016 – has used the same logo since 1990, said Charles Drouin, a spokesman for the National Research Council.

Refreshing the NRC’s image was already part of the road to 2016, and since the government announced that the NRC would refocus towards the needs of industry, the time to test the new image became right, Drouin said.

“There’s sort of a justification for giving ourselves a new look and explaining both to Canadians and our future clients what kind of an organization we are.”

It’s important to present yourself in the best way if you’re trying to attract customers, the NDP’s Stewart agreed.

“It’s the whole new nature of the organization that I have extreme doubts about.”